This invention concerns a tapping device for large capacity recipients of a brewing installation for the storage and/or treatment of alimentary liquids, in particular beer, this installation also comprising a network of connecting pipes between the recipients and the appliances providing the functions of the recipients.
Two technical principles are known for serving large capacity recipients generally grouped in a cellar and used mainly in the food industry for the manufacture, treatment or storage of alimentary liquids such as beer, milk or others.
These large capacity recipients have to be connected during their use to various stations ensuring functions such as washing, filling or emptying of the recipients, connecting them to filtering devices or to devices for putting under pressure or escape of gases, etc.
The first technique used for the connection between the recipients of a cellar and the stations ensuring the functions enumerated above consists of using an operator who makes the tappings manually; this involves on the one hand, risks of incorrect tapping and, on the other hand, difficulties in manipulation due to the often great length and diameter of the flexible pipes to be connected.
A more developed technique consists of interlocking these large capacity recipients with a system of more or less sophisticated automatic valves allowing a network to be created for distribution of supply and total or partial emptying of the recipients. This grid of automatic valves, intended to replace the operator, is then controlled from a console, which is considerably easier to operate but does not eliminate the risks of incorrect switching which can lead to catastrophic effects on the contents of the recipients. Moreover, if the possibility of intermixing of different fluids, for example, beer before and after fermentation.
Moreover, the price of such a grid of automatic valves is another major disadvantage connected with this technique. In fact, a complete network of valves necessitates the use of a large number of valves amounting to as many as twenty valves per recipient. And each of these automatic valves comprises a leak detector which adds to the complexity, and makes the current unit price to some forty thousand francs as soon as pipe diameter approaches to about 150 mm, which is common in breweries where a great number of pipes with a large diameter need to be connected. Therefore, there is a need for a reliable automatic tapping device which costs significantly less than the known devices. Moreover, the device must not permit leaks nor intermixing between the functions and the services to preserve the contents in the recipients.